4-6-17 BMRC MInutes vMINUTES
City of Atlantic Beach
Board Member Review Committee
April 6, 2017
THOSE IN ATTENDANCE:
John Stinson — Chair of the Board Member Review Committee
Jennifer Lada — Member of the Board Review Committee (Arrived at 6:08)
Grant Healy — Chair of the Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee.
Ben de Luna — Chair of the Code Enforcement Board
Brea Paul — Chair of the Community Development Board
Staff:
Donna Bartle — City Clerk & Non -Voting Member of the Board Member Review Committee
Brenna Durden- City Attorney
Victor Gualillo — Chair of the Police Officers' Pension Board of Trustees
Timothy Johnson — Staff Liaison to the Cultural Arts and Recreation Board Committee.
Derek Reeves — Staff Liaison to the Community Development Board
Dayna Williams — Secretary for the Code Enforcement Board.
Call to Order
Commissioner Stinson called the meeting to order at 6:04 p.m.
1) Courtesy of the Floor
Commissioner Stinson opened Courtesy of the Floor.
Chris Jorgenson 92 W 31 St., thanked Commissioner Stinson for holding these very important
meetings.
2) Attendee Self Introductions
It was determined that everyone know each other so introductions were not needed.
3) Unfinished Business
a) Review of typical annual timeline for board member selection and
appointments.
Commissioner Stinson reported the timelines as follows:
• January 1st would be the effective date for terms and there would be alternating
expiration dates to maintain consistency;
• Work through the year with mentors;
• Recruitment during the third quarter;
• Interviews and appointments approved by Commission in October;
• Training in November to be ready to take their seat on January 1 st; and
• Board Appreciation in December.
The Committee discussed the timeline, length of terms, term limits for each board and committee, and
the idea to standardize terms.
City Attorney Durden reported the length of terms and term limits as follows:
Code Enforcement Board: Serve 3 year terms, 3 year term limit.
Community Development Board: Serve 2 year terms, 4 year term limit.
Pension Boards of Trustees: Serve 4 years, no maximum term limit.
Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee: Serve 2 years, 2 year term limit.
Board Member Review Committee: Chair's serve a 1 year term, no maximum term limit.
Members 2-4, Serve 2 year terms, 2 year term limit.
5th member rotates.
6th member is the City Clerk, no maximum term limit.
City Attorney Durden stated she felt that the four year term for the Pension Board is different because
they are highly specialized and come with a fiduciary responsibility. She felt that a shorter three year
term might be more appropriate for other boards and stated that it is good to have some turnover in
order to have a new perspective.
Commissioner Stinson introduced Judith Leroux, Chair of the Beautification and Natural Resource
Preservation Advisory Committee.
After a lengthy discussion, the Committee decided that terms and term limits do not need to be the
same for all the boards/committees and to continue with allowing termed out members to come back
to the same board after sitting out for one year.
The Committee spoke about changing alternates so that they can fill regular member vacancies without
going back through the process.
b) Presentation of the Board Member Review Committee synopsis recommendations
to the group.
Commissioner Stinson explained the BMRC recommendations were provided to everyone and
explained he would like to hear the comments from the other Boards and Committees.
c) Capture individual board recommendations and requests regarding recruitment,
training, mentoring, evaluation and retention as charged in the Board Member
Review Committee meeting of the 19th of January 2017.
i) Code Enforcement Board
Mr. de Luna reported the recommendations were not discussed with the Code Enforcement
Board yet, but should be discussed at the next meeting. He spoke in support of recruitment and
training.
He explained that the last Code Enforcement Board meeting was very long so his board was unable to
discuss recommendations, but plans to address it at their next meeting. He spoke in support of
recruitment and training and liked the idea of former members mentoring incoming members.
Mr. de Luna believed the board chair should play an integral part in the selection of the members to
their particular board.
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The Committee spoke about standardizing the attendance policy, defining excused and unexcused
absences among all boards and committees, and ways to document absences.
ii) Community Development Board
City Planner Reeves stated his group individually commented on specific ideas regarding recruitment,
training, mentoring, evaluation and retention. He reported the following comments from Community
Development Board members:
Board Member Linda Lanier
• Liked the idea of community development activities;
• Mentioned that Jacksonville Beach does an annual bus tour with their residents, where specific
staffers visit different parts of the city like the utilities plant and the public works yard to help
them understand how the city functions;
• Believed it would be beneficial to have a manual given to new board members to explain their
role, responsibilities and procedures of specific boards;
• Would like to see regular training for Sunshine Laws and Ethics;
• Liked the idea of the mentor program but expressed concern about the Sunshine Law issues;
• Approved of the evaluation process;
• Likes the annual reception and awards for retention, but felt that retention was the lowest
priority issue to be addressed; and
• Would like a push to get younger generations active on boards.
Board Member Kelly Elmore
• Agreed with all of those points.
Board Member Sylvia Simmons
• Agreed with all of those points
• Added that she thinks there has been a reduction in Ad Hoc Committees, (short-term/temporary
committees), which has reduced the number of people interested in serving, because they
provide a breeding ground to gain some experience in public service for a short term and might
help them do a longer term commitment.
• Expressed there should be diversity among the boards, not only including professionals but
active community members serving as well, to advocate community interests.
• Believed that, for the Community Development Board, there should be an educational
component for the legal ramifications of the decisions they make.
Board Member Kelly Elmore
• Agreed with the legal suggestion from Ms. Simmons.
Chair Brea Paul
• Agreed with Ms. Lanier about bringing in the younger generations; and
• Suggested finding a way to bring professionals to the board.
Board Member Sylvia Simmons
• Countered Ms. Paul's suggestion regarding professionals, noting that we do not want just
professionals on boards; wants active community members who have a desire for a certain
outcome for the community.
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Ms. Paul spoke about the need for training on ethics and the Sunshine Law and the ramifications for
decisions they make. She reported the board supports recruitment, mentoring, and evaluation. She
added, she would like to encourage citizens to come and speak at the Community Development Board
meetings during public comments.
iii) Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee
Recreation and Special Events Director Timmy Johnson stated he did not get any comments from the
Committee, but he and Mr. Healy had a discussion about alternates and reducing the number of
members. They want to reduce the number of members to seven and add one alternate. They also
requested a reduction in the number of meetings. Mr. Healy spoke in support of recruitment, training,
and establishing criteria and a process for granting requests for funding. Discussion ensued about
establishing a policy.
Mr. Johnson spoke about the challenges the Committee has while planning events and having to call
meetings due to the Sunshine Laws.
City Attorney Durden explained the Sunshine Law does not prohibit members from social gathering at
events, members just cannot discuss anything that may foreseeably come before the board to vote on.
Commissioner Stinson inquired about structured changes to the Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory
Committee where they have an executive committee on that board that makes decisions and votes and
another associate member that can talk about the details.
City Attorney Durden suggested they appoint a one person sub -committee.
Mr. de Luna suggested having one group be the actual committee making decisions and the hands on
members being separate from the committee.
Mr. Healy stated the ordinance encourages members to participate in the events. He explained that the
members not only create the event, but also participate in the event which makes it difficult as it relates
to the Sunshine Laws.
iv) Pension Board
Commander Vic Gualillo complimented his pension board members. He spoke about recruitment
typically being by word of mouth. He explained their training is structured so that the members can
attend training twice a year and covers Sunshine Law and Ethics. He believes mentoring is an
interesting concept, but was not discussed as much because most members have specialized knowledge
beforehand. He agreed with the Board Member Review Committee Members regarding evaluations
and the Chairs having tremendous insight. He stated retention for the Pension Board has taken care of
itself and is not opposed to term limits but a longer term for the Pension Boards makes more sense. He
believes the Board is very happy and is open to the changes that have been discussed.
4) New Considerations
a) Beautification and Natural Resource Preservation Advisory Committee (BNRPAC)
i) Status
Commissioner Stinson explained Ms. Leroux is here and her Committee is in the process of forming a
new Committee. He inquired as to how many members they would be appointing. Ms. Leroux stated
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they are currently evaluating procedural items, but would like the number of members to be a fixed
number instead of a range.
Ms. Paul encouraged a thorough review of any proposed legislation so that it is clear and there are no
gray areas. There was discussion relating to the differences in the roles of the Boards/Committees and
the concern of creating a new Committee with overlapping roles. City Clerk Bartle offered to email
Ms. Leroux a packet that included the literature for all of the boards.
b) Change in structure of standing committees?
City Planner Reeves reported there have been conversations about having a Special Magistrate for Code
Enforcement and asked if that was up for consideration. City Clerk Bartle explained the Commission
began conversations about the topic, had a workshop on it, it was put on a Commission Agenda, and
then, because of time challenges, was dropped off the agenda. Mr. de Luna stated the current structure
of the board operates very well and believes it could handle just about anything. He explained the
Board is made up of volunteers which means the City does not have to incur expenses. Mr. de Luna
did not have information about the discussions, so he did not want to comment about the Special
Magistrate. Commissioner Stinson offered to send Mr. de Luna some documentation. Mr. de Luna
reiterated his comments about the board being able to handle just about anything. He explained they
add their individual perspectives and believes their decisions have been good.
c) Quasi-judicial training requirements and needs.
City Attorney Durden explained the need for training, orientation, and education of the Committee
members. She agreed that orientation is needed and liked the idea of having all the members come in
at the same time. This would allow the opportunity for doing really good orientation that would cover
training, ethics training, voting conflicts and Sunshine Law and believes it should probably be on an
annual basis. She further stated the two boards that handle a lot of quasi-judicial matters, would need
very different training. Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee, Board Member Review
Committee, and Pension Board will not need the quasi-judicial training. In the case of a Pension appeal,
the Board has special counsel to handle that. The City Commission will need it because they conduct
quasi-judicial matters. She explained that ninety percent of Code Enforcement Board and Community
Development Board's decisions are quasi-judicial and believed the quasi-judicial training should be
separate from the other training and happen sooner rather than later.
5) Miscellaneous Business (Discussion Only)
a) Draft Ordinance changes necessary to affect recommendations of the Committee.
i) Projected budget to draft changes.
ii) Implementation timing
City Attorney Durden explained, based on this meeting and what she heard, the number of changes that
would be necessary to the current Ordinances and Resolutions do not seem extreme when considering
changes to the number and length of term and the number of members, alternates, and meetings per
year. She explained that when we start getting into comparing Beautification Committee and
Community Development Board powers and duties and their scope of review, and changing what the
Cultural Arts and Recreation Advisory Committee does, that gets more complicated. She inquired if
there would be subsequent meetings or if this is the last meeting. She explained she is not sure if she
has all the comments and suggestions to consider and did not feel comfortable moving forward yet.
Mr. Healy suggested she address each committee and then have each chair review the language.
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Ms. Paul stated she would like to have a written document of the changes to present to her board as a
whole to review.
City Attorney Durden inquired whether the Board Member Review Committee should clearly lay out
a set of recommendations and vote on them before moving forward to the next step which would be the
revising.
Chairman Stinson believed there should be a document prepared that reflects the information gathered
from the two meetings and provide it to the boards/committees in June so they can either agree with it
or make changes to the proposal.
The Committee discussed what the process should be going forward and the need to come up with an
amount needed to fund the program so the amount can be proposed in the budget. The Committee
would like to get the document in April to take to their individual boards/committees for comments,
and then have the Board Member Review Committee, along with the appropriate Chairs, discuss and
vote on the final recommendations.
6) Reports
Commissioner Stinson reported that the Commission presented awards to three termed out members at
a recent Commission meeting and he hopes to continue doing that.
7) Adjournment
There being no further discussion, Commissioner Stinson declared the meeting adjourned at 8:24 p.m.
rn,
John M. Stinson
Chairman
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